At the foot of a sweeping staircase in a stately Bel Air mansion, Greta Gerwig leaned in to adjust Jordan Peele's bow tie as a camera shutter snapped Gerwig's sparkling gown and Peele's velvet dinner jacket were all in line with the era of classic cinema the photo shoot was meant to evoke. That she, a 34-year-old actress turned director from Sacramento, and he, a 38-year-old bi-racial actor turned director from the Upper West Side, would hove been scarce in that age-as they still are today-wasn't lost on the pair.

"This is the greatest party we never went to "Gerwig said between shots.

In an industry where women directors and directors of color are still shockingly rare, Gerwig and Peele have broken through and made two of this year's best-reviewed films. In Get Out, Peele hides uncomfortable truths about race inside the Trojan horse of a crowd-pleasing thriller. In Lady Bird, Gerwig tells the coming-of-age story of an awkward, theatrical Sacramento teenage girl.

Neither Gerwig nor Peele took the traditional path of film school, yet both were hyper-prepared by early careers as self-starting actors and writers, he as an uncanny impressionist on his sketch show, Key & Peele, she as an indie-film chameleon in such movies as Frances Ha, Mistress America, and 20th Century Women. Now, in 2017, Gerwig and Peele have arrived with their first feature films as solo directors just as Hollywood and the Academy are taking a hard look at who gets the opportunity to tell their story in this town, and who often gets left out.

"The idea of different voices, fresh voices, under-represented voices for so long was considered bad business," Peele said. "It seems like the world is getting sick of the last 10 years of film and they want a new perspective—they want something fresh. It just feels like it could be the beginning of a special time in Hollywood."

With Jordan Peele

Greta Gerwig, photographed in Los Angeles.